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East Anglia Branch News - Snippets Issue 353 - 31/08/2022

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News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.

Railfuture News Snippets 353 - 31/08/2022



The Department for Transport (DfT) has published figures showing that national rail passenger numbers have reached a new post-pandemic milestone, with 95% of pre-COVID levels being recorded on 10th August 2022. This came in a run of seven straight days, from Saturday 6th to Friday 12th August, where 93-95% of pre-Covid passenger levels were hit every single day of the week. This was acheived in spite of industrial action in recent weeks, perhaps showing that passengers have learned to work round strikes and still use the railway when it is possible to do so. Normaly patronage would be down in August (the traditional summer season when many go on holiday) but perhaps rail is increasingly used for 'staycations'. This welcome milestone has been hit less than six months since final pandemic (Omicron) restrictions started being relaxed. See article.

British travellers are increasingly turning to the train during summer 2022 because of petrol prices (reaching £1.93 for a litre of unleaded in mid-July) and concerns about climate change have become important factors in deciding their travel plans, according to a poll of over 1,000 people commissioned by Trainline.

On 5th August 2022 Network Rail submitted a Transport and Works Act Order application to the Secretary of State for Transport for the 'Network Rail (Cambridge Re-Signalling) Order', which covers the 'C3R' re-signalling project in the South Cambridgeshire District Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council and Breckland Council local authority areas. The period of objection will be open for six weeks until Friday 23rd September 2022 (DfT contact email is [transportinfrastructure at dft.gov.uk]).

A new Costa Coffee shop has opened at Ipswich rail station, employing seven people. Customers can enter from either the front of the station or from platform 2, and can sit down to eat and drink or take their purchase away with them.

The Mid Norfolk Railway (MNR) has not been running public trains south of Thuxton for several months because of problems with the quality of the track. Following substantial work, the track south of Thuxton weas assessed to be usable again and trains start running from Dereham to Wymondham Abbey again on Saturday 6th August 2022. Whilst Wymondham Abbey station was closed MNR volunteers refurbished the platform there so that it is ready to welcome passengers again. The MNR will run a busy Diesel weekend from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th September 2022 and feature a guest heritage locomotive (a class 20 form the Epping and Ongar Railway), a mainline one from Direct Rail Services (which us active in the region and the MNR's resident diesel locomotives. A two-train service will be in operation, hauling Mk1, Mk 2 and Mk3 train sets, the latter being former Greater Anglia cartriages. There wil also be a beer train, with beer from the Tindall Brewery of Seething, Norfolk, being sold on board. Tickets for the event will be priced at £20 for an adult Rover ticket, A senior Rover is priced at £15 with children and MNR members at £10. Two day Rover tickets are also available at £30, £25 and £20 respectively. The' Kids go Free' offer does not apply for this event.

On Tuesday 6th September from 07.30-12.00 at March station passengers can talk directly to rail managers and transport representatives during a 'Meet the manager' feedback session. Management chose March for this event because of its recert redevelopment, which has seen the interiors of the buildings completely remodelled and a new and extended car park provided. Greater Anglia, Fenland District Council's Transport Team and the Hereward Community Rail Partnership will all be present.

The Whitwell & Reepham Station will be holding a Christmas Craft Fair on Sunday 27th November 2022 from 10:00 to 16:00. The railway is offering visitors to 'Drive a Diesel train' on its next 'Steam Sunday' on Sunday 2nd October 2022 for just £10. Book and pay on the day.

Greater Anglia has updated its app to help move its website and app onto a single booking platform — one might well ask why separate platforms were created in the first place. They say that the update adds new features, such as buying tickets with Apple Pay, making the app "quicker and easier to use than ever before."

In [Snippets 348] there was a feature about Greater Anglia (GA) creating online virtual tours of its largest railway stations. It has now added Ipswich station to the growing list, which now numbers 12, all of which have been produced for GA by Virtual Tour Experts.

Greater Anglia says that it now has over 290 adopters at over 117 stations across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the majority of these being in the Railfuture East Anglia branch area.

At Cambridge station there were two AMT coffee outlets, on platform (within the southern waiting room), platform 4 (in the northern waiting room), and passengers could also get a hot drink at the retail outlets that sold food. However, there was no services on the island platform that was opened in December 2011 (partly because of a lack of plumbed services). After several years, a third AMT outlet opened on platforms 7 and 8, utilising the old kiosk that was previously in the ticket hall before it was expanded. Recently, Greater Anglia has constructed a brand new building on the island platform, with a high-quality enclosed waiting room on one end (facing the AMT coffee kiosk) and a new coffee shop at the other end (but sadly, no hatch between them to allow people in the waiting room to purchase something without having to leave the warmth of the waiting room). The new shop opened several months after the waiting room, as a tenant was needed and then it had to be fitted out.

On Thursday 25th August 2022 a diesel-hauled Pullman special ran from London Victoria to Watlington station in Norfolk where passengers disembarked for onward travel by luxury coaches to Sandringham. Train was stabled at King's Lynn beside the unused platform.

Cambridge 'Silicon Drinkabout', which is a 'Meet-Up' group for people who work in IT, meet at pubs twice a month. To enable people to come by train they have decided to try the Old Ticket Office at Cambridge station for their meeting on Monday 12 September 2022 from 18:00.


TRAIN OPERATORS
Dutch state railway pulls out of Britain — Management buyout for Abellio UK

Keywords: [GreaterAnglia]

Dutch state passenger operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has announced a management buy-out (MBO) of its Abellio rail and bus business in Great Britain, subject to approval by the Department for Transport (DfT) — the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will also have to approve the contract change, although this is seen as a formality. Abellio UK currently operates the services of Greater Anglia, East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Trains, which are contracted to the DfT, as well as the Merseyrail, which is contracted to the devolved local transport body, Merseytravel. Abellio UK also operates more than 50 London bus routes.

New company Transport UK Group Ltd, led by Dominic Booth (Managing Director of Abellio UK), hopes to take over the group by the end of 2022. NS changed its international strategy in 2018 to require foreign activities to contribute to the interests of Dutch travellers, and with Abellio UK no longer of strategic importance it decided to withdraw from the UK (after around 20 years) to focus on services within, to and from the Netherlands. The buyout announcement came as NS presented its half-yearly results on 23rd August 2022. The Dutch Ministry of Finance (NS's principal shareholder) has already approved the sale.

Members of Railfuture and various rail user groups in East Anglia may remember Dominic Booth as the boss of WAGN (the National Express franchise). He joined Abellio Group in 2007, having been Managing Director of six train operating companies and subsequently Chairman of 10, with roles at British Rail, Connex Transport, Prism Rail and National Express Group where he was Deputy Chief Executive of the rail division before leaving to join Abellio.

NS has €0.5bn of outstanding guarantees and the MBO would be likely to take over these obligations rather than being settled when the MBO takes over. This means that NS will, presumably, financially support the MBO for several years to come.

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Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 353 - 31/08/2022

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Railfuture is a non-profit making pro-rail campaiging organsaiton, which is run entirely by unpaid volunteeers, incluoding production of Rail News Snippets for the East Anglian branch of Railfuture.

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